The latest CD announced by Kritzerland pairs two adventure scores for Charlton Heston films by Golden Age composers -- the 1955 Western THE FAR HORIZONS, also starring Fred MacMurray and Donna Reed, with a score by Universal horror master and six-time Oscar nominee Hans J. Salter; and 1954's SECRET OF THE INCAS, music by David Buttolph (House of Wax, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Kiss of Death).

On July 23, Varese Sarabande will release the score to the summer's most highly awaited sequel -- THE SMURFS 2, with music by Heitor Pereira. On August 13, the label will release the soundtrack to the documentary ONE TRACK HEART: THE STORY OF KRISHNA DAS, featuring score cues by J. Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr.) and Devadas.

June 21 - Lalo Schifrin born (1932)
June 21 - Philippe Sarde born (1945)
June 21 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score to 7 Women (1965)
June 21 - Gerald Fried's score for the Star Trek episode "Catspaw" is recorded (1967)
June 21 - John Ottman begins recording his score to Cellular (2004)
June 22 - Todd Rundgren born (1948)
June 22 - The Guns of Navarone opens in New York (1961)
June 22 - Darius Milhaud died (1974)
June 23 - Howard Shore begins recording his score to The Fly (1986)
June 23 - Carlo Savina died (2002)
June 24 - David Rose born (1910)
June 24 - Jeff Beck born (1944)
June 24 - Patrick Moraz born (1948)
June 25 - Carly Simon born (1945)
June 26 - John Greenwood born (1889)
June 26 - Dave Grusin born (1934)
June 26 - George Bassman died (1997)

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

THE GUILLOTINES - Kwong Wing Chan

"Half historical fantasy, half macho weepie, 'The Guillotines'alternates revisionist, self-contradictory political rhetoric with long scenes of warriors pointing swords at each other and yelling, 'How could it come to this? We are brothers!' while holding back tears. Slow motion and melancholy strings emphasize the sadness of the characters without ever making it palpable, and as a result, the film feels perversely bloodless and drained of emotion -- a melodrama without any drama."

"Snyder and editor David Brenner neatly shuffle these time and space elements, thankfully making Man of Steel less step-by-step than usual in a superhero movie. Time is taken for conversations to go elsewhere than exposition and jokes don't come cheaply, if at all. Amir Mokri's cinematography is a major plus, and Hans Zimmer's musical score keeps bombast to a minimum, but he's persistent."

Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times

"Dispensing with such pesky bits as smooth transitions and logical chronology, Snyder pings and pongs viewers through 'Man of Steel,' his blurry swish pans, jittery zooms and blobby close-ups an uneasy fit with 3-D that, as in most cases, is completely unnecessary. With such a disorienting visual language, accompanied by Hans Zimmer’s turgid, over-produced score, 'Man of Steel' is an exceptionally unpleasant viewing experience, especially coming on the heels of such snappy superhero movies as 'The Avengers.'"

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

"If you want to know all you need to know about 'Man of Steel' in just over three minutes, Hans Zimmer’s theme music is a perfect synecdoche -- a small part that effectively stands for the whole. Beginning with a delicate piano motif, the cue soon swells larger, with rhythmic percussion and strings building to a powerful crescendo of undeniable power -- which somehow never finds a soaring melody that will lift the music off the ground and send it into the stratosphere."

Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

"The movie climaxes in a trio of almost unbelievably long and violent battles where the screen fills with rubble, the Hans Zimmer score throbs and rows of skyscrapers topple like dominoes."

Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail

"The opening establishes the heavy-handed religious overtones of a picture that plays almost every scene and utterance as a big, quasi-Biblical moment, accompanied by thunderous score. This is a film with no jokes, no banter, no small talk and no downtime from destruction; the characters are suffocated by relentless, large scale action, only a few sequences of which are actually exciting."

Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express

"Before the gloom can settle, Snyder overkills with Hans Zimmer sound and FX fury as Supie rescues humans from fire, flood and twister."

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"The absence of fun or frippery will surprise no one who’s eyed the credits: Director Zack Snyder ('Sucker Punch,' 'Watchmen', '300') and producer/story co-conceiver and DC Comics movie stablemate Christopher Nolan (the Batman franchise) are soul brothers in grim-faced, frantic entertainments. (Let’s call composer Hans Zimmer a first cousin; when he trots out his braaaaaaam belch from 'Inception,' the viewer’s liable to suffer heartburn and wistful memories of John Williams’ spirits-lifting score from 1978’s 'Superman.')"

Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle

"Ubiquitous product placement takes the viewer out of the movie, and Hans Zimmer's overpowering score further distances us."

Claudia Puig, USA Today

"'Man of Steel' is almost too generous with the action set pieces, all of them set to Hans Zimmer’s thunderous score. You lose track of how many times either Superman or Zod slam each other into a building, which inevitably collapses under them, but you can count the film’s witty remarks on one hand."

Peter Howell, Toronto Star

"Meanwhile, Shannon's Zod huffs and puffs, demanding that the puny earthlings hand over Superman, which leads to endless brawls between the two where neither seems able to get hurt. I understand that fight scenes like these have become de rigueur centerpieces in comic-book ­popcorn extravaganzas, but here they go on forever and have a numbing sameness. They're simply excuses to smash the scenery to bits while Hans Zimmer works up a sweat beating the drums of war on the soundtrack."

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly

"That sequence sets the tone for much of what follows in 'Man of Steel,' with Hans Zimmer’s thunderous score rattling both speakers and eardrums, the actors dwarfed by layer upon layer of crumbling buildings and warring spacecraft. Pic is undeniably impressive, in the sense that little if any expense has been spared in bringing Snyder’s vision to the screen, though this is a case where less would almost surely have been more. Much of the craft work exudes the same general feeling of overkill, from the frantic handheld shooting and desaturated colors of lenser Amir Mokri to the unceasing Wagnerian bombast of Zimmer’s score."

Scott Foundas, Variety

"With Christopher Nolan’s mammoth Batman trilogy having wrapped up last year, the quick return of the other great DC comic hero was inevitable, even if the last attempt, Bryan Singer’s 'Superman Returns' (2006), only lasted one lap. Nolan’s involvement here as a producer and co-story writer with David S. Goyer, his collaborator on all three Batman films, will encourage fans to look closely for his fingerprints, and a first impression might suggest his hand in deepening the hero’s roots to such a serious extent and insisting upon using Hans Zimmer to compose the score. Working in a somewhat lower key than was his norm for Nolan, Zimmer still provides the musical grandeur and sense of portent that lends the film an extra dimension."